CWO-3 Eric William Totten

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Totten of Texas is the son of a Twin Cities building contractor, who grew up in St. Paul and attended Ramsey Junior High School before his family moved to Golden Valley. He joined the Army shortly after graduating from high school and was a career soldier. He had been in Bosnia and Iraq and this was his second tour in Afghanistan. Eric was a bachelor who moved at the whim of the Army, though he recently had been living at Ft. Campbell, Ky. He loved the military, and could fly jets and helicopters and he had great computer skills. But he also was a great musician; he knew how to play piano, guitar, clarinet and trumpet. Eric left five siblings, including his brother Noel Totten and a sister, Thais Hinz. Other siblings include a sister, Judy Jackson, a special education administrator in Oklahoma City; a brother, Jim and a brother, Ottis, and his stepmother, Tommie. He died east of Abad, Afghanistan, in the Kunar province when his CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed during combat operations at age 34.